Burnt pallets.... I’m glad i decided to pass. Grabbed 2 bags of 20 pound Kingsford for 20 bucks. I may be done with lump... tried a few brands and even though I like some things about it.. best cook I ever had was off just plain kingsford and wood.

El Diablo. It’s a mesquite wood lump charcoal, comes in a 40# bag and I get it for about $12-13 a bag. I have to sort it and break up some of the bigger pieces but over the last 10 years it’s consistently been of good quality.

It is distributed out of Phoenix and will sell it by the pallet for even less. I need more friends to split it with before I run down for one tho....

They used to let you just roll up to the warehouse and they would toss as many in your truck bed as you wanted. Don’t know if they still do that. My local Costco now stocks them and they are about the same price and a lot closer.

I've been trying to find a good lump charcoal and haven't really found anything that's left me impressed. I tried a bag of the royal oak classic and yes, it seemed to be scrap wood but truthfully most that I've used has been that way. I haven't tried the Cowboy stuff because of what I've heard here. I have a different bag of Royal Oak lump (I don't recall the name) and a bag of Kingsford lump. I'll have to get them opened up to see how they cook.

As far as briquettes go, I like Royal Oak over the blue bag Kingsford. It burns cleaner and leaves less tar on my gravity feeds coal door.

I used Rockwood out of St. Louis for a few years and that's been pretty good. I've gone through a half a dozen bags of B+B because 1) I can get it about a mile from my house. It's a bit cheaper than Rockwood, but the last couple of bags have been sparking pretty good. Generally, it burns well, in my grill, there's no unburned lumps left after a cook.

Jkalchik... question. Is sparking supposed to be a good thing when it comes to lump.? I bought a bag of western lump( see my post about it) and that was the first time I ever saw sparks when I lit a fire.. it was smoky, had good burn time, and was hot for sure, but I had to stand back because I was worried i might catch some shrapnel !

Last year I got some lump charcoal in a brown bag (can’t remember the name) but it burnt awesomely
I’ve been burning wood in the house heater for years and typically when you have sparking it’s due to cedar’ & bois’darc type woods. Certain kinds of oak will spark also. Water oak is one. While oaks do burn hot I like/prefer to use fruit woods. Anything that produces a fruit or nut adds great flavor and also burn fairly hot.
I know this is slightly off topic but I thought it might help someone.

Jkalchik... question. Is sparking supposed to be a good thing when it comes to lump.? I bought a bag of western lump( see my post about it) and that was the first time I ever saw sparks when I lit a fire.. it was smoky, had good burn time, and was hot for sure, but I had to stand back because I was worried i might catch some shrapnel !

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Personally, I can't image why sparking would be a good thing. Risk of open fires when lighting off a chimney full, and sparking under food in a grill.... not so good. I'd tried another brand that was supposed to be awfully good, and got a 4' tower of sparks out of the chimney (I didn't even finish burning what I'd bought, it got thrown out.)

Ok we’re on the same page. I was a little confused because I thought u were saying that u liked the lump that was sparking when lit . Man those fireworks can get scary. To be fair, it’s stopped once it burned down and it was time to cook, but I could only imagine someone using that stuff and being under or near a tent... only folks eating bbq will be the fire Dept.

Jkalchik... question. Is sparking supposed to be a good thing when it comes to lump.? I bought a bag of western lump( see my post about it) and that was the first time I ever saw sparks when I lit a fire.. it was smoky, had good burn time, and was hot for sure, but I had to stand back because I was worried i might catch some shrapnel !

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Personally, I can't image why sparking would be a good thing. Risk of open fires when lighting off a chimney full, and sparking under food in a grill.... not so good. I'd tried another brand that was supposed to be awfully good, and got a 4' tower of sparks out of the chimney (I didn't even finish burning what I'd bought, it got thrown out.)

Yep sounds like you got a bag of trash wood. Just hope there was no pine wood in it.